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From Attributes To Consciousness

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Viswamitra, Jul 25, 2022.

  1. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Chapter 13, Slokas 8-12 of Bhagavad Gita provides information of how one can discriminate Kshetra (the field or body of instruments consist of body, mind and intellect and Kshetrjna (Indweller) who resides in every life. Unlike bookish knowledge that can be cultivated without a change in one’s character, this invaluable spiritual knowledge requires purification of the heart (not the physical organ). These five verses describe the virtues, habits, behaviors, and attitudes that purify one’s life and illuminate it with the light of knowledge.

    Humbleness: When we become proud of the attributes of our individual field, such as beauty, intellect, talent, strength, etc., we forget that all these attributes were gifted to us. Pride results in distancing our consciousness from the super consciousness. It is a big obstacle on the path of self-realization since it contaminates the entire field by affecting the qualities of the mind and intellect.

    Freedom from hypocrisy: The hypocrite develops an artificial individual personality. A person is defective inside but creates a façade of virtuosity on the outside. When there is a gap between how one feels vs how one presents, it is a conflict that hurts the progress towards consciousness.

    Forgiveness: It is a freedom from ill will even towards those who have harmed one. Actually, harboring ill will harms oneself more than the other. By practicing forgiveness, a person of discrimination releases the negativities in the mind and purifies it for his/her own spiritual progress.

    Simplicity: It is straightforwardness in thoughts speech, and action. Straigtforwardness in thought include absence of deceit, envy, crookedness, etc. Straightforwardness in speech includes absence of taunt, censure, gossip, ornamentation, etc. Straightforwardness in in action includes plainness in living, forthrightness in behavior, etc.

    Service of the Guru: Spiritual knowledge is received from the Guru. The imparting of divine knowledge requires the disciple to have an attitude of dedication and devotion towards the Guru. By serving the Guru, the disciple develops humbleness and commitment that enables the Guru to impart knowledge.

    By writing all these, I have not become a master of understanding all that is said here by Lord Krishna nor I have found the ways and means to practice the above traits articulated here. At best, I can only mention the huddles I encounter in practicing the above traits. I have purposefully written only 5 traits and intent to write the next 5 in the same thread but through another post as it is overwhelming to think of all of them together.

    I do get intoxicated from the pride from time to time before I wake up sober from such intoxication. But I am happy that it doesn’t last long by the grace of God and some circumstances will bring me back to the ground. The reason I like to be elevated by the spirituality is because that is when I am most humbled. I do work from time to time to emulate my role models who excel in demonstrating this trait. Whenever I stray into the territory of hypocrisy, thanks to the grace of God, I bring myself back quickly to introspect and rectify it. I work so hard on forgiveness and simplicity but still trip and fall so often. Whenever, my anger raises to the level that affects my judgment for a harm done to me, I recite something that brings me back to sanity. I am such a work-in-progress with respect to my speech including the way I write but I am confident someday, I will learn to be in the territory of simplicity.

    I do have a Guru who taught everything I know so far but I have so much to learn. My Guru told me that serving the humanity is the best way I can show my gratitude to my Guru. I participate every possible event that I could participate to sing bhajans in praise of the Lord, teach the children about His teachings and spent time every week to provide service to those who need such services. More to come in the next post.
     
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  2. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    My apologies for misquoting the chapter. It is Chapter 13 and not 12. Since the window to correct has expired, I am posting it here.
     
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  3. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear V sir,

    Thank you for the update! I was typing my response after having read the chapter 12 you quoted first and trying to
    understand your take on it :) Now I am relieved. Will come back later.
     
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  4. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Each Chapter in Gita has a message, at times repetition too. It is something like talking with reference to context.
    The most difficult task is understanding self. Each one of us has some attribute from birth and conditioning but that itself is not enough. One may have a flair for painting but unless it is polished by training and practice, it will not grow.
    The five attributes you have enlisted, begin from birth and conditioning while growing up. It is no wonder that children who fave violence in the family, get beaten up by parents and elders turn violent in adult life and try to solve all issues by violence only. Exactly opposite will be those who got all love.
    Another point is who decides whether we have or do not have those five attributes?
     
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  5. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    It is imperative that the parents create a conducive environment for them to develop good attributes recommended by the scriptures. For that they should be knowledgeable about how to set an example for their children. Frankly those who live by the dictates of the Consciousness is ideally suited to set an example. I always beleive right living is embedded in every being and it is their mind and senses that drift them away.

    Regarding who needs to be a judge of those attributes, I feel opinion of other minds will be as biased as our own mind. Therefore, I believe the best judge is derived from introspection by the intellect that gets influenced by the Consciousness.
     
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  6. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear V sir,

    Just a couple of days ago, I was discussing with my yoga teacher the differences between avidya and asmita - long story. This kshetra/khsetrjna kind of explains the same to me. I don't think any of us can say that we are there. In that all of us are work in progress and we all reach that state from time to time and may take many births to reach that forever :) Spiritual knowledge is certainly aimed at our inner self and for our inner growth and like you said, it can just become knowledge when not applied to bring about a change in us. At any point in time, I think we are not in tune with at least one of the five attributes you mention and practice is what keeps us grounded yet take us farther on the path. I do like the way you confess that you do get intoxicated with pride from time to time. I am sure a careful observation of self reveals some deficit in all of us and just as we think we have a grasp, we can find something else that can upset that. Reading snippets like yours, referring to texts that are quoted can work as being in satsangha that keep us on the path. Thank you for the write up as always sir!
     
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  7. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sabitha, I couldn’t have said it better. All of us are in work-in-progress and for us to understand the difference between Shetra and Shetrajna, it will take a lot of effort. I have taken only 5 traits so that I can bite a few at a time. Introspection is the greatest way to cure ourselves from bhavaroga. Maya is powerful until we learn to discriminate Shetra and Shetrajna. I am humbled by your words and I am just an instrument. I say all of it for my own spiritual growth and I am not qualified to guide anyone. I am merely regurgitating what was said by the Lord Himself and taught by many seers. I am merely a seeker of spiritual knowledge and every response I get may contribute for my spiritual growth.
     
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  8. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Additional Attributes:

    Cleanliness of body and mind: We need to learn to purify both internal and external. When external health helps us to maintain good health and remain fresh, the internal cleansing helps us to improve our attention to details, concentration of the mind, focus on specifics, and right decision-making. Discrimination faculty works better when we are organized in our mind.

    Steadfastness: Knowing to differentiate between Shetra and Shetrajna are not easy goals to reach on a time-limit. It requires sustained effort. Steadfastness is the persistence to remain on the path until the goal is reached. To relish this sweetness, one has to be consistent in the effort. Giving up on this should not be an option as this discriminaton is essential for self-realization.

    Self-control: It is the restrain of the mind from running after the dictates of the senses to enjoy the mundane pleasures that dirty the mind and intellect. Self-control brings in discipline not to get indulged in such passions which are not beneficial for spiritual growth and development. This is the most important attribute one should have and when one is evaluated at the salvation day, how much of self-control one had becomes the key for determining how we are set up for future growth and development. This has to be monitored 24/7 and every time one trips and fall, one should get up and implement the self-control.

    Dispassion towards the objects of the senses: This one is the next step to self-control. Here we try to restrain ourselves by force. While self-control is an internal audit, the dispassion towards the objects of the senses is an internal control system to prevent the mind from running after the object of the senses. Lack of interest for sense pleasure has to be built from inside and it takes enormous effort to do so. Human birth is precious and one should not let that birth wasted by pursuing animal instincts. In fact, animals are longing to dispense with those sense pleasures to get blessed to become a human being.

    Absence of egotism: Egotism is the conscious belief that we are the body, mind and intellect. "I", "Me" and "Mine" stems out of this egotism. This is known as Aham chetana (pride arising out of the sense of self). When one expresses devotion to God, this feeling of I and Mine gets eliminated at least during the period of devotion. It doesn't mean all Bhaktas are out of egotism. Among the atheists, a few by devoting their time and effort in serving others, they easily eliminate the tendence of I and Mine. When one expands himself/herself to providing services to those in need, informally gets established in the feeling that all are one.

    Up to this, all the attributes described are what we at least experience as something we would like to work on. The rest of the attributes described in these Slokas are even difficult to comprehend mentally. We will discuss them in future posts.

    Many of these attributes are closely inter-related and when we address one, other attributes automatically get addressed as well. I have indicated elsewhere that I longed to sign a bhajan on Guru Purnima Day many years ago and how the Lord taught me a lesson that bhajans are not sung for the devotees to appreciate me but rendered with Bhakthi to the Lord so that He can help me for my spiritual growth and development. I struggle on simple things like resisting to eat something more despite knowing that it is not good for my health. As discussed earlier, I am a work-in-progress in every attributes mentioned above and a long way to go to learn to discriminate Shetra and Shetrajna.
     
  9. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear @Viswamitra ji

    I have been studying several gaṇitam granthas in the original saṃskṛtam....
    In āryabhaṭīyam (a grantha from 450 CE, composed by āryabhaṭā about decimal number systems, arithmetic and a lot of maths and astronomy and geometry) - division is called bhajana - so we asked why division is also bhajana and singing songs addressed to bhagavān is also bhajana

    The saṃskṛtam scholar said that when we sing bhajana, it is with a dvaita bhāva - we are jīvātma reaching out to the paramātma - we are divided. Thats why singing songs for bhagavān is like division
    :innocent:

    Now, as usual, I need to read, reread and digest your posts before some kind of response even forms in my head... so let me get busy

    Keep smiling
    HR
     
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  10. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @hrastro,

    There is always something new to learn from you. I never knew in Ganitham Grantha, a division is called Bhajana. I definitely know singing bhajans is delving into dualism and for that purpose any prayer of sort, chants, japam, etc. are sympolic reprsentation of accepting dualism. But the amount of spiritual elevation I get while singing bhajans is difficult to describe in words. I guess I am Yours, You are Mind and You and I are one are three stages and unfortunately, I am still in Saranagathi mode. When I know nothing is there to surrender is when I will feel You and I are one.
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2022
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